Atlanta Mayor thankful for no fatalities in school shooting
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. Photo: Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens says the city is going to bring justice to the families of four students at his alma mater, Benjamin Mays High School, after they were shot in the school's parking lot on Wednesday afternoon.
The latest: Atlanta police say four teenage boys — three 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old — were shot yesterday afternoon in the parking lot of Benjamin E. Mays High School, WSB reports. All were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
- Three people were later detained on Baker Road in Northwest Atlanta: one male, a 35-year-old woman and her 17-year-old daughter.
Shortly after Dickens officiated a Valentine's Day wedding for 10 couples at Piedmont Park, the mayor told Axios Atlanta that he would be checking on the families of the victims.
- Dickens says he spoke with the chief of police and the Atlanta Public Schools police chief before he arrived to the previously scheduled event.
- Dickens also says he was following the ambulance on his way to the wedding event as it was going to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Zoom out: Atlanta recorded 135 homicides in 2023, down 21% from 171 in 2022 and well below 2020's tally of 157, according to data provided by the Atlanta Police Department, Axios reported last month.
- Other crimes also saw significant declines: rapes (down 51%), shootings (18%), aggravated assaults (16%), robberies (15%), thefts from vehicles (9%) and burglaries (6%).
What they're saying: Dickens told Axios that "it's sad to hear about four people getting shot at my high school," but "luckily everybody's alive and these young lives won't be lost."
- "We are going to really investigate who did the shooting and bring them to justice," Dickens says.
- "The Year of the Youth made a big difference, so we're cranking it back up this year to also find out what led these folks to have that kind of incident."
- "I don't have all the details about what happened but I know I'm just thankful that no one is dead or seriously injured."
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new information. It has also been corrected to reflect that three of the victims in the shooting at Benjamin E. Mays High School were 17 years old, not 16.